Children grow to love plants

YOUNGSTERS at St Mary’s Primary School in Purton spent an afternoon showing off their green-fingered skills to parents in a cross-curricula event about gardens.

All term, children in Key Stage 1 – Years 1 and 2 – have been learning about gardens right across the world in all their subjects with a view to spending an afternoon entertaining their parents in a special cafe.

There was a good turnout of parents of the 95 children for the event, with some even bringing four guests to enjoy the delights on offer.

Helen Fudge, KS1 Leader at the school, was pleased the event was a successful one, bringing together all elements of the curriculum.

She said: “In maths they’ve been handling the change in the cafe, and for literacy they’ve been writing about their visit to Adam Henson’s Farm in the Cotswolds.

“All their work was then put on display so that they could show it to their parents.”

The youngsters also grew their own food in their vegetable garden, including lettuce, rocket, potatoes, peas and cress, and helped use the food to make potato salad, egg and cress sandwiches and a variety of different salads for the parents to enjoy.

Helen said: “It really was fantastic. They made all the bunting and put all the pots out as well and served their parents the food.

“They also made fruit kebabs and served the drinks.

“The children really took ownership of the event and I really think it was an important way for them to learn.The best way to learn is through practical means and by doing, and they really took to the project.

“It was also great to be able to hold the event as a culmination of the whole term’s work.”

Helen said it was a great opportunity for the parents to come in and find out what their children had been working on.